My father, Tony Gould, was appointed as the founding Director of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in 1979, so our family moved to Brisbane the following year. I have vivid memories from childhood of QPAC being built.

My parents took my brother and me to all kinds of performances. From a very young age, we saw classical music and opera – art forms that aren’t often seen by children – so I became familiar with diverse music.

Kate Gould. Photo © Claudio Raschella

I saw Elgar’s Cello Concerto and was mesmerised by its desolation. Of course, it’s an iconic work. I didn’t know at the time that it’s about the futility of war, written at the end of World War I; I felt that it was about me. I was quite a dramatic teenager.

World Expo on Stage in 1988 was pivotal in developing my knowledge of the arts. For six months, QPAC hosted the very best of music and the performing arts from all over the world. It was phenomenal. A Kabuki production from Japan, the Comédie Française, The War of the Roses by the English Shakespeare Company . . . I saw it all.